M6:2698 — جزو خاکی گشت و رست از وی نبات / هکذا یمحو الاله السیئات

Translation: It became part of the earth, and from it, plants grew; thus does God erase evils. Meaning: This verse speaks to God's transformative power, akin to alchemy, where impurities are turned into purity, and sins into good, just as waste transforms into soil from which plants emerge.

In this verse and the ones preceding it, Mawlana paints a picture of a divine alchemical system at play in nature. He speaks of ḥadaṯ (impurities, waste), which we naturally recoil from, as they symbolize degradation and contamination. Yet, in Mawlana's profound view, ḥadaṯ is not an endpoint but rather the initial step in an astonishing chain of transformation.

Initially, the sun shines upon these impurities. Not only is the sun's light undiminished, but the ḥadaṯ dries up. This is the first stage of purification: "Its light suffers no harm from it, nor does the impurity become rancid from dryness." Subsequently, this dried ḥadaṯ transforms into firewood, a fuel source in ancient times. This firewood is then taken to a gul-khan (a bathhouse furnace), where it burns, providing light and warmth. Mawlana interprets this by saying: "It was defilement, now it is adornment, as the sun recited that charm upon it." The sun has cast a "charm" upon it, a spell that converts defilement into adornment; what was once an impurity, from which all fled, now bestows warmth and beautifies the bathhouse.

However, the circle of transformation does not end there. "The sun also warmed the earth's stomach, so that the earth might consume the remaining impurities." The sun prepares the earth to receive and process the rest of the waste. It is here that our verse shines: "It became part of the earth, and from it, plants grew." This dung and waste become part of the soil, and from it, vegetation sprouts. An absolute impurity is transmuted into purity, then into plant life and fruit, and its fruit becomes sustenance for the pure. Mawlana here alludes to the biological cycles in nature—the carbon and nitrogen cycles that break down organic matter and convert it into nutrients essential for plant growth.

The outcome of this intricate and unparalleled system is: "Thus does God erase evils." God similarly erases sayyi'āt (sins and evils). The world, in Mawlana's perspective, is a vast factory that turns poison into nectar, impurity into purity, and sin into good deeds (ḥasanāt). This is a profound cosmic insight that does not overlook sins but rather indicates a pathway for their transformation. Even the malevolence and evils perpetrated by wicked individuals in the world, though we have an ethical duty to confront them, ultimately, within the grand divine perspective, "will emerge from a place of goodness."

This insight showcases the apex of God's universal and infinite grace: "With impurity, which is the worst of things, He does this: He makes it into plants, narcissus, and wild rose." If God does this with the lowest and most detestable things, transforming them into narcissus and wild roses, what then will be the reward for the truly pure? Mawlana connects this to the famous Hadith Qudsi: "He bestows upon them that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived." A reward that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has ever contemplated. This is the zenith of divine benevolence and the cosmic alchemy that Mawlana perceives first in nature, and subsequently, in the realm of meaning.

Key takeaways

• Nature's Alchemy: How impurities (waste) are transformed into purity (plants) through natural cycles.
• Divine Metamorphosis: God has designed the cosmos as a factory that transmutes evils (sayyi'āt) into good deeds (ḥasanāt).
• Ultimate Optimism: Even malevolence and evils, when viewed from a divine perspective, ultimately culminate in good.
• Universal Grace: God's mercy is unconditional and embraces all beings and things, even the most impure.
• Unimaginable Rewards for the Pure: If even the most impure receive such 'robes of honor,' the rewards for the pure are beyond human description and conception.